Cebu Football 2019

What’s in store for Cebu Football in 2019? One thing for sure is that Cebu’s regular dose of football games will be played almost every weekend of the year. There will be either the regular 11-a-side football matches, 7-a-side football festivals or futsal tournaments scattered all-year round. Cebu will also have a new set of football leaders with the rise of the regional football association. And we’re all looking forward to the first FIFA-regulation sized football pitch with artificial turf. Excited about all these? You should be!

Footballisnothingwithoutgamesandsothisweekendkicksthings offfortheyear.The9thSinulogCupistakingplaceyesterdayandtoday at the Cebu City Sports Center.Atotal of 150 teams spread over 14 age groupsordivisionsareplaying.Theformatis7-a-side,15-minutegames onsmallerpitches.Achampionperagegroupwillbedeterminedwithin hours after its start of games. The youngest age group is Under 7 years old, while the most senior (not oldest) division is 45-above. There are special divisions like the BPO and Inter Company divisions. There will also be the Men’s and Ladies Open divisions.

The 16th edition of the Thirsty Football Cup takes place February 22-24, also at the Cebu City Sports Center with new gimmicks and the usual heavy load of teams. A whopping total of 281 teams are participating. That’s 47 more than last year’s count. The highlight for team representation is that aside from the usual Cebu-based clubs, there are a host of visiting teams from outside Cebu. Represented are San Carlos City, Bohol, Dipolog, Bacolod, Roxas, Maguindanao, Maasin City, Himamaylan, Victorias City, San Juan, Davao, Iloilo, Negros Occidental, Iligan City, Tacloban City, Borongan, Baybay, Surigao, and Northern Samar. Thirsty also has 14 divisions: under 7, under 9, under 11, boys under 13, boys under 15, girls under 15, boys under 17, girls under 17, boys under 19, girls under 19, Men’s Open, Women’s Open, Mixed Open, and above 40. The Thirsty Cup will also feature an exhibition match involving an all-amputee team from the Amputee Soccer Philippines, backed by the PhilippineAccessible Disability Services Inc. (PADS). They face off against the Velez football team, a first the 16-year history of the Thirsty Cup.

That’s a lot of football taking place in just two weekends of

February. Also taking place this week is the football event of the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) which takes place in Dumaguete City. This features the Elementary (Under 13) and High School (Under 18) divisions. The champions from the CVIRAAwill represent Region 7 in the Palarong Pambansa inApril in Davao. The Batang Pinoy Visayas Regional Finals takes place February 24-March 2 and has an Under 15 futsal event for boys and girls. Cebu City and Cebu Province are fielding teams in this event.

Aside from all the football being played, the more interesting news is that the Central Visayas Regional Football Association will finally take off as the regional FA with the election of new set of board members and officers; as distinguished from the Cebu Football Association which will cease to exist once the CVRFA is born. This bleacher bum was a member for the old board of the now-defunct Cebu Football Association, and is giving way to more qualified and competent football people to manage Central Visayas football.

More football? The Visayas Festival of Football will be held in mid-March in San Carlos City, Negros Occidental. The best U15 and U13 players from all the different Visayas FAs will be there to show off their skills before coaches from the national youth teams. Cebu has regularly been a source of players for the national U19/18 and U16/15 players every year and this year will surely be no different. The Hyundai Cup Champions’ League (Under 17) follows at the end of March at the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, featuring local teams from the different Hyundai branches in Central and East Visayas and others from Mindanao. The summer will be filled with various short weekend tournaments and clinics as all await the new school-year. And when August rolls around, the CESAFI and 21st Aboitiz Football Cup, Cebu’s biggest football events will be held. The annual San Roque Cup and Sun Star Football Festival are also calendared and I haven’t even mentioned the various football festivals and futsal tournaments that are hosted by different clubs and schools that are spread throughout the year. Ask the CFA office about the calendar of tournaments and they can show you their Excel file where every weekend is shaded with color-coded marks that mean “booked.”

Football is dire need of pitches and so the establishment of the Dynamic HERB Sports Complex is going to be a most-welcome development. It’s going to be Cebu’s first FIFA-regulation size football pitch with an artificial turf. Located in the SRP, It will also feature a grandstand and separate gym for futsal and basketball. I’m pretty sure that we’re going to see more tournaments taking place with this brand new sports complex. I’d like to see a men’s football league staged here outside of the Aboitiz Football Cup. We can also have more inter-school games played here and surely more football festivals. I just hope other private individuals and LGUs step and up and establish more football pitches around Cebu.

That’s as Cebu Football in a nutshell. No Global FC? No Azkals? No problem! Play on!